


The Price Of Loyalty

by eclecticscribbles



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dad Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Dad Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Graphic Description, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Limbs, M/M, Major Character Injury, Recovery, Torture, deadlock - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 03:29:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10868133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eclecticscribbles/pseuds/eclecticscribbles
Summary: He wanted to threaten, to barter, to beg, but he knew it would have been wasted on deaf ears anyways. Jesse was in pain and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t fight. He couldn't speak. All he could do was thrash in his restraints and hope Jack got here in time.





	1. Chapter 1

Gabriel couldn’t move. All he could do was watch Jesse getting the shit kicked out of him on the ground. Blood stained the ground under him and more splattered across the concrete with each punch he took. Gabriel forced himself to zero in on the sounds coming from Jesse. Grunting. Wheezing. Sobbing. He heard punches connecting with flesh, air being forced out of Jesse’s lungs from kicks to his gut, sobs robbing him of the minimal breaths he could suck in. Men were laughing around them, taunting them.

 

Gabriel struggled and tugged against the restraints tying him to the chair. Fighting the rarely surfaced panic rising in his chest, he tried to control himself enough to form a plan. Maybe if he toppled the chair, the fall would break it and he could use the wooden pieces as weapons to rip into these men’s throats.

 

One of the three men surrounding Jesse delivered another solid kick to his side. A low whimper came from the crumpled body on the floor. 

 

_ Another broken rib. _

 

He needed to get to his boy. They were hurting his boy. He needed to help his boy. 

 

_ His son. _

 

Threats burned in his throat but the gag tied around his head reduced his slew of profanity to muffled mumbles. He wanted to threaten, to barter,  _ to beg,  _ but he knew it would have been wasted on deaf ears anyways. Jesse was in pain and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t fight. He couldn't speak. Hot tears he didn’t realize formed dripped down his cheeks and off his chin. 

 

He started to yank the chair back and forth, attempting to knock it over when rough hands gripped his shoulders from behind and pulled him back flush against the back of the chair. Gabriel growled around the gag, jolting forwards to try and break their grip.The hands shook his shoulders hard, sending the room spinning, the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling flashing around his vision. Something started to beep steadily in the distance, slowly getting louder the more frantic Gabriel got. An animalistic screech from McCree rang in his eardrums followed by heavy sobs and stuttered pleading. 

 

Gabriel snapped upright in the chair. 

 

Bright fluorescent lights blinded him when he opened his eyes again. He squeezed his eyes shut and put his hand up to protect his face but someone else lightly gripped his wrist. Gabe flinched and yanked his hand away, blinking up at the form in front of him. Jack was stooped over him, hand resting on his shoulder, the other warily held in front of Gabriel. He had a worried expression plastered across his features. Gabriel didn’t like it.

 

“Bad dream?” Jack asked softly, re-taking Gabriel’s hand in his own. He pulled an extra chair over and sat next to him.

 

“Not a dream,” Gabriel replied, caressing the back of Jack’s calloused hand with his thumb. He shifted closer to the hospital bed and glanced over towards Jesse for what felt like the millionth time since he was cleared by Angela to visit. “He's my boy, Jack.”

 

“I know.” 

 

Jesse was lying propped up on the bed by a small mountain of pillows. An intubation tube was sticking out of his mouth, filling his lungs with air in a regular rhythm that almost matched the heart monitor perfectly at a steady beat. 

 

Suspended in the air from a metal rod hanging above the bed, his left leg was wrapped in bandages from his knee to his thigh. His right wrist was plastered in a red cast. Broken, splinted fingers poked out a few inches past the edge of the cast. What was left of the stump on his left arm was wrapped heavily in bandages a few inches thick. It barely stuck out past the sleeve of the white t-shirt he was wearing.

 

Gabriel knew under the blankets and bandages, his body was bruised and broken even further on the inside. Angela said the shards of his shattered ribs tore into his lungs and destroyed their outer tissues. His lungs were almost filled with blood by the time they got him back to base.  She had to rebuild his lungs with artificial tissue that needed time to grow. The ventilator and heavy biotics were needed until enough of the new tissue healed enough to breathe on his own again. 

 

Gabriel reached to run his free hand through the brown strands of Jesse’s hair slowly. Chunks of dried blood flaked off his scalp from spots the medical team missed when they quickly cleaned him off once they got him in stable condition. 

 

They had to sedate Gabriel overnight when they first returned to base because they couldn’t get him to come down from his panic attack. It took two more days before he was cleared to see Jesse through the ICU window, and another two to get into his room. When he woke up the first morning, Angela said Jesse would have been awake within the week. Now, two days into the second week, he was still healing steadily but wouldn't wake up. Jack and Angela have tried to lure him out of Jesse’s room to get proper sleep and meals, but he refused every time. He needed to be here when Jesse woke up. It was the least he could do after everything that happened.

 

Gabriel fell asleep hunched over in the chair with his head resting on his arms in the free space near the edge of the mattress for the tenth night in a row, letting the steady beating of the heart monitor lull him into uneasy sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the wait was so long! Better late than never though, right?

Gabe was camped out in the same chair he’s been living in for the past ten days by Jesse’s side. Empty plastic food containers and water bottles Jack and Ana kept bringing him were stacked on top of each other on the bedside table next to the stack of ever growing field reposts that needed to be approved. Currently, he skimmed through one of yesterday’s training reports from a newer agent. The pen he was twirling in his fingers slipped and fell to the ground. In the quiet calmness of the room, the clatter of the tiny pen felt like an obtrusion of peace.

 

He’d thought about playing some of Jesse’s music quietly, on the off chance Jesse could hear it through his induced state, but decided against it, lest Angela yell at him for disrupting the orderly sterile quiet of the medbay.

 

Sighing and closing the current folder, he rubbed his forehead. One more file, and he’d take a break. Maybe he’d see if Jack would bring him a coffee. He placed the finished folder on top of the stack and pulled the final on from the bottom of the pile. As soon as he clicked his pen, he heard a small choking noise.

 

His focus shot over to Jesse. 

 

Slowly, Jesse’s head moved slightly to the side and his casted right arm lifted off the bed only a few millimeters before dropping down to the mattress again. He began to let out a groan but choked instead, gagging on the intubation tube. A small, scared whimper escaped Jesse’s throat. The heartbeat monitor started to beat more rapidly. Gabriel dropped the report and stood, hovering over Jesse’s broken body. 

 

“Jesse,” Gabe spoke, barely above a whisper.

 

He cupped his still slightly bruised cheek and Jesse’s eyes slowly cracked open. They squinted back closed from the harsh lighting immediately but he slowly blinked them open and closed after a second. 

 

“Athena,” the holographic  _ A _ popped into existence on the nearest screen, ready for orders, “Get Angela here immediately.”

 

“Right away, Commander.”

 

Gabriel could tell it took a lot of effort for him to get his eyes open and keep them open. The biotics Mercy had feeding into the IV drip were an intensive grade medicine, almost triple the effects of morphine, and only used for the most severe injuries. When Jesse opened his eyes, they were glossy and unfocused, drugged and groggy.

 

But Gabe could see the intense fear. He looked so small and afraid. Confused.  _ Hurt. _ Pleading for help.  _ For Gabe’s help. _ His shoulders trembled under Gabe as he gagged on the tube again. Tears welled in the corner of his eyes and he slowly blinked, spilling them down the side of his face.

  
  


“Just hang on a little longer, alright kiddo?” Gabe pleaded, brushing Jesse’s tears away with the pads of his thumbs.

 

Jesse groaned and tried to move away on the bed, eyes squinted shut again, either from the light or pain, Gabe couldn’t tell. When Jesse tried to move and found that he couldn’t Gabe could feel him tense and start to panic under him. The choking kept getting worse the faster the monitor beeped.

 

“Jesse, you need to stop trying to move,” he tried to keep Jesse from moving as gently as possible, “It’s okay, you’re alright. Angie’s on the way.”

 

Jesse lifted his right arm and tried to reach the tube to grab at it, but his entire arm was casted and his broken fingers were splinted. He just ended up swatting uselessly around in front of the tube. 

 

Gabe has never felt more useless in his life. He couldn't help Jesse before, and he can’t do jack shit now. He doesn’t know how to take the tube out and he’s afraid if he tries to just take it out, he’ll hurt Jesse somehow, or mess something up even more.

 

Instead, he tries to soothe him. He runs his thumb across Jesse’s cheeks, brushing the fresh streaks of tears away, and gently holds him down on the bed by his shoulders.

 

“Jesse, hold on,” He knows Jesse probably isn’t paying attention to him, but keeps going anyways, “Angie’s gonna get that out, you just gotta hang on a little longer, I promise.”

 

But Jesse was in full blown panic mode. He kept crying and his eyes darted everywhere, looking for a way out, but his movements were still clouded by the biotic. Gabriel’s heart hurt being forced to sit by  _ again _ and watch Jesse be in pain, and not be able to help.

 

Angel sprinted through the doors, pulling on her gloves as the door slid closed behind her automatically.

 

“What happened?” she asked, walking to the opposite side of the bed, across from Gabriel, Immediately starting to check over Jesse.

 

“I was doing paperwork, and he just woke up. He’s choking on the tube.”

 

Jesse was still struggling pretty hard in his drugged state under Gabriel.

 

“Jesse,” Angela said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “ I know the tube is uncomfortable, but I need you to calm down so we can take the tube out.” Jesse didn’t calm down at all. Angela sighed. “Gabriel, I need you to hold his head tilted backwards on the pillows while I take the incubation tube out.” She moved Jesse’s head backwards by his chin, “Hold him like this. Firmly.”

 

Gabriel gently held Jesse’s head exactly how Angela showed him. Carefully but with a practiced swiftness, she pulled the long tube from his throat in one movement, despite Jesse squirming and shaking his head.

 

As soon as the end of the tube cleared the back of his throat, Jesse spit up a mix of spit and blood over himself, sending him into a coughing fit.

 

“Why did he just cough up blood?” Gabe asked worriedly. “Are his lungs still not healed?” He unconsciously ran his hand through Jesse’s hair, trying to soothe him while he struggled.

 

“That was fluid that gathered at the end the tube,” Angela explained while she changed the biotic levels in the IV bag, “It is normal when taking an intubation tube out. His lungs are healthy enough for his body to be breathing on his own, which is great progress.”

 

The rapid beeping of the heart monitor slowed to a regular pace quickly. The wheezing also stopped after a few minutes and his breathing regulated to a semi-normal sounding rattling/steady breathing combination.

 

Gabe glanced down at Jesse and saw his eyes were closed again and he was slumped in the pile of pillows behind his head. Lightly, he was leaning into the hand Gabe had running through his hair, seemingly unconsciously. A soft, almost calm expression was on his face, stark against the panicked expression he had before.

 

“Jesse?” Gabriel prompted quietly.

 

“I gave him a mild sedative,” Angela said, walking over to Gabriel. “You both need rest. We can talk to him in the morning.” She lightly squeezed his shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. “He is going to get better. But he’s going to need you to be there for him. Get some rest, Gabriel, tomorrow is when the hard part begins.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor baby Jesse
> 
> eclectic-scribbles.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

12 Days Earlier

 

“Jefe, get up!”

 

A hand is shaking his shoulder, jolting Gabriel awake. Sunlight shines through the dirty window of their dingy motel room and directly into Gabriel’s eyes. He grumbles and swats Jesse away, pulling the scratchy, stained, 90’s themed comforter over his head to shield himself from the bright rays. Jesse scoffs and grabs the blanket, attempting to tear it away, but Gabriel has a tight hold on it around himself. They fight back and forth for a minute before Jesse finally lets go with an annoyed huff.

 

The room is already starting to get uncomfortably hot. Too hot for his taste. Nevada has a dry heat, not the cooler heat the Pacific Ocean brings with it back in LA. He never thought he’d miss the winters in Gibraltar, but this recon mission was testing his limits.

 

Another tug at the edge of the thin blankets pulls him from his thoughts.

 

“C’mon, it’s already ten. I’m starvin’ Gabe. If I don’t get a breakfast burrito in me in the next ten minutes, I ain’t gonna make it.” Dramatically, Jesse drops to the ground next to the bed. “I can feel myself wastin’ away,” his voice hoarse and frail, “My stomach is eatin’ itself as we speak. I don’t know.. how much time…. I have left.” He hears Jesse fully fall to the floor. “Aaagghh.”

 

Silence takes over the room.

 

“You done?”

 

“Depends, you gettin’ up?”

 

“If I give you money, will you go and let me sleep?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“There’s thirty bucks in my coat pocket, take it and go.”

 

Jesse’s bootsteps fumble and dart across the room to his coat, draped over the back of a creaky armchair by the door. Gabriel peeks his head out from the covers.

 

“Bring back some coffee too. Get my usual, wake me up when you get back.”

 

Jesse is already halfway out the door. “Got it, see you in a bit.”

 

Gabriel drops his head back on the pillow and lets sleep take him, savoring the mornings few and far inbetween that he actually gets to sleep in.

 

xXx

 

Gabriel eventually wakes on his own. Untangling himself from the covers, he glances around the room. Jesse is nowhere in sight. He looks over to the bedside clock and anxiety hits him like a brick.

 

_ 12:32 _

 

“What the fuck?”

 

There’s no way the kid took that long just to go the the taco truck a few blocks away.

 

Gabriel flings the covers off, pulling on his jeans and a black t-shirt. He yanks his phone from its charging port and pulls up Jesse’s contact, hitting  _ Call _ . He paces the small room as it rings.

 

_ Ring...ring….ring…. _

 

Placing his beanie on his head, he fidgets with the fold of the band.

 

_ Ring….ring….You have reached the voicema- _

 

Gabriel ends the call and storms out of the room.

 

xXx

 

The early afternoon sun is beating down hard on his skin. The town they are on mission in is small. The entire downtown area is only a few blocks across, a single motel and a few shops and restaurants make up the entire economy of the place. Gabriel climbs down the stairs of the motel and briskly walks down the few blocks to the parking lot of the gas station quick mart where the taco truck was parked yesterday. It’s still stationed there, bricks in place behind the wheels and generator humming away. He approaches the counter. A younger girl with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail spots him and smiles.

 

“Hey, what can I get for you?”

 

“Did you see a guy with a cowboy hat get food here?”

 

“You’ll have to be a little some specific than that, Sir. A lot of guys wear cowboy hats around here.”

 

“He has spurs on his boots, red serape, the whole shebang, and a bullet on the hat.”

 

“Oh yeah, he stopped by a little while ago, left a really good tip and asked where he could get some strong coffee. I told him there’s a coffee stand about three blocks down the street.” She leaned out the truck window and pointed down the street.

 

“Thanks.” Gabriel turns on his heels.

 

“You’re welcome, I hope you find him!”

 

Gabriel tries to call him again. No answer. 

 

He peeks down every alley he passes as he heads towards the stand. He’s passing a corner store that has a bigger opening into an alley/ parking lot hybrid when he sees a brown paper bag on the ground about halfway down the alley. Other than that and a dumpster, the alley was pretty tidy and untouched. There wasn’t even a single other piece of trash lying around. Something about it feels off in Gabriel’s gut. He detours down the alley, worry spiking in his chest. 

 

He increases his pace until he’s basically running towards the pile of garbage. 

 

Two puddles of coffee, lids popped off of the paper cups and a toppled brown, grease stained paper bag, the scent of burritos wafting up, tin foil wrapped food poking out of the opening.  And mixing into the puddles of coffee, a spatter of blood, almost enough to make a small puddle. Streaks of blood are coming off the top, like whatever was bleeding had been dragged a few feet before it abruptly stops, droplets of blood coagulating around the final foot of the streak. 

 

On both sides of the blood, there are black tire tracks, freshly made, the scent of rubber still faintly in the air. They lead down the opposite end of the alley, dissipating before they could reval which direction they turned.

 

Panic threatens to build in his chest. Gabriel shoves it down. He doesn’t have time for that, he needs to  _ focus _ . 

 

He moves over to the dumpster. Jesse’s hat is on the ground, dirty and crushed in like someone had stomped on it. He bends and plucks it off the ground. As he stands and begins to fix it, he sees a cracked phone on the ground, about a foot from the concrete wall of the building forming the walls of the alley. He picks it up and the screen flashes on. Even though he already knows what it’ll display, it still sends a shiver down his spine.

 

_ Missed call: Gabe (2) _

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>  
> 
> http://eclectic-scribbles.tumblr.com/


End file.
